Indie Theater Roundup: 7 Movies to See This Week

By root on June 12, 2009 2:58 PM

SF Indie's Another Hole in the Head festival is entering its second week. Frameline 33, San Francisco's International LGBT Film Festival, kicks off Thursday with Richard Laxton's An Englishman in New York. Put simply, it's a great time to be a Bay Area movie buff. As always, here's a list of some of the films currently in rotation at an indie theater near you.

2. Food, Inc.Where:Embarcadero Center Cinema, 1 Embarcadero Ctr., 415-352-0835 When: All WeekWhy: Presented with painstaking research and thoughtful, evenhanded commentary from authors and activists including Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and U.C. Berkeley’s Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), Food, Inc. is a dispassionate appeal to common sense for those who would rather understand what they eat than blindly scarf down whatever’s cheapest and quickest. It's also a vital, visually stylish piece of filmmaking that is as informative as it is fascinating, infuriating and, at times, heartbreaking.

3. Fados Where:Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 1881 Post St., 415-929-4650When: All WeekWhy: A featured selection at last year’s International Film Festival, Carlos Saura’s Fados (named after a popular style of Portuguese folk song) is a richly fulfilling celebration of a musical phenomenon born in Lisbon during the early 19th century and since popularized by the likes of Mariza, Carlos do Carmo and Chico Buarque. After a half-century in the film industry, Saura, whose 1980 comedy Mamá Cumple Cien Años earned him a long-overdue Oscar nomination, delivers one of his liveliest efforts here, an unexpected treat for fado aficionados and the uninitiated alike.

4. WatchmenWhere:Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight St., 415-668-3994 When: June 15-17Why: Though director Zack Snyder's narrative doesn’t always soar with the same feral energy as Alan Moore’s writing – one wonders if Snyder might have served his movie better if he’d been more willing to deviate from the playbook, considering that the liberties he does take fit so seamlessly into the story – Watchmen is a grand spectacle that captures the graphic novel’s subversive spirit. No small feat, indeed.

6. Every Little StepWhere:Bridge Theatre, 3010 Geary Blvd., 415-751-3213When: All Week Why: Having been performed in 22 countries over the course of four wildly successful decades, A Chorus Line is no ordinary Broadway smash – it’s a full-fledged cultural phenomenon. James Stern and Adam Del Deo’s stunning new documentary takes us behind the curtain to meet its creators and the original cast members who brought their vision to life.

7. CoralineWhere:Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight St., 415-668-3994 When: June 18-19 Why: Adapted from Neil Gaiman's dark novella and directed by Henry Selick, who played a pivotal role in crafting the look of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline is a visual achievement of the highest order, an endlessly inventive spectacle that represents the first stop-motion animation feature ever filmed in 3-D. Judging by the results, it will not be the last.